One Center City Fare?
Mobile ticketing provides another option to avoid annoying your fellow passengers by fumbling cash. Perhaps it should be cheaper than paying with cash.
Part of the low-hanging fruit that could help transit move more smoothly when Convention Center Annex construction and other projects reduce throughput in the Central Business District would be streamlining the fare collection process on all buses.
Among the causes of longer dwell times are:
zone resetsfare disputespassenger questionsfailure to fully use rear doorsall the change fumbling, change fumbling, change fumbling, change fumbling, change fumbling.
Both Metro and the monorail are collecting input on fare change proposals. Metro's is focused on moving to a flat fare.
This author has long been a proponent of express fares based roughly on distance. However the likelihood that there will be no express bus routes entering downtown from the north end or I-90 after Lynnwood Link and East Link open changes the calculus. If only South King County express routes are left, trying to charge premium express fares to the portion of the county with the lowest average income seems pretty pointless. Moreover, with One Center City bus re-reroutes right around the corner, drastic actions have to be taken to keep buses moving. Fare simplification is overdue, and now desperately needed.
The current fares for the myriad downtown transit services require multiple cheat sheets. But for purposes of this analysis, we'll ignore ferries and Sounder.
| Agency | Service | Full Adult | LIFT" | youth | RRFP.. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Seattle | Monorail (cash only) | $2.25 | n/a | $1.00 | $1.00 |
| City of Seattle | Streetcars | $2.25 | $1.50 | $1.50 | $1.00 |
| Community Transit | commuter south/Everett | $4.25 | n/a | $3.00 | $2.00 |
| Community Transit | commuter north/east | $5.50 | n/a | $4.00 | $2.50 |
| King County Metro | off-peak | $2.50 | $1.50 | $1.50 | $1.00 |
| King County Metro | 1-zone peak | $2.75 | $1.50 | $1.50 | $1.00 |
| King County Metro | 2-zone peak | $3.25 | $1.50 | $1.50 | $1.00 |
| Sound Transit | Link Light Rail | $2.25-$3.25 | $1.50 | $1.50 | $1.00 |
| Sound Transit | ST Express intra-county | $2.75 | $1.50 | $1.50 | $1.00 |
| Sound Transit | ST Express inter-county | $3.75 | $2.75 | $2.75 | $1.75 |
| Agency | Service | RRFP.. | Youth | LIFT" | Full Adult |
Imagine if fares on the most common services were all aligned, and riders got some small per-ride incentive to pay electronically so fare collection time could be minimized. The fare chart could look more like this.
| Service | Fare Medium | Full Adult | Youth, LIFT*, & RRFP |
|---|---|---|---|
| King County Metro Monorail ST Express intra-county | Cash | $3.00 | $1.50* |
| King County Metro Link Light Rail Monorail Seattle Streetcars ST Express Intra-County | ORCA / Mobile Ticket | $2.75 | $1.25 |
| Cmty Transit commuter ST inter-county express | Cash | $5.00 | $2.50* |
| Cmty Transit commuter ST inter-county express | ORCA / Mobile Ticket | $4.75 | $2.25 |
| Service | Fare Medium | Full Adult | Youth, LIFT*, & RRFP |
* No LIFT cash fare is available. Cardholders have to use loaded ORCA product in order to get the discount.
This presumes the monorail joins the ORCA pod, and Community Transit starts accepting ORCA LIFT for a discount fare, even if efforts to distribute ORCA LIFT in Snohomish County are limited to what has been set up by Sound Transit.
It also presumes Sound Transit switches to charging intra-county fares on routes 512, 532, 535, 574, and 578, recognizing that they are not express routes.
Other ways to speed up fare collection while boarding the bus include:
getting rid of paper transferseliminating the $5 ORCA card fee as the county council is urgingrequiring electronic payment at bus stops closest to ORCA vending machinesproviding monthly ORCA-based passes to very-low-income riders, especially people experiencing homelessness.